1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the amount of electric power used by more than one customer so that it stays at an appropriate level.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power plants for production of electric power are such that each station inherently has its own limit to the producible power amount depending upon the facility scale, while suffering from the lack of an ability to store a large amount of power. In view of these facts, an electric power manufacturing and selling party, i.e., power, dealer is generally required to supply adequate power to customers while precluding risks of unwanted concentration of customers"" demands for excessive power greater than the limit at one time. Accordingly, in prior known power amount control methods, the power dealer has been expected to appropriately control power generation in such a way as to satisfy, for example, the presently established xe2x80x9csave energyxe2x80x9d doctrine by reducing customers"" consumed power amounts or, alternatively, by suppressing power consumption in certain time zones of large amounts of consumed power on a per hour basis.
One example of such control methods of the type stated above is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Hei. 7-143670. With the scheme as taught by this Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication, a power dealer controls loads by use of a demand control device for limiting the use of electric power in cases where the amount of power being consumed by a customer is going beyond his or her initially contracted power amount to thereby ensure that s/he does not use power in excess of the contracted power amount as shown in FIG. 20.
In addition, in order to avoid risks of power shortage otherwise occurring at a peak time of power consumption or to lighten loads as given to power generation facilities, the power dealer employs a unique charge collection system for promotion of time-shift utilization of electric power, which system permits energies stored by dedicated equipment at nightxe2x80x94usually, less in power demands and low in power service pricesxe2x80x94to be used in the day time with increased power demands while at the same time offering to customers several charge discount services including, but not limited to, a discount due to heat accumulation and/or an off-peak discount.
Although it is possible for the individual customer to control the power amount by introduction or installation of such demand control device and/or dedicated equipment, there is inherently no guarantee that the customer""s power demands always stay below his or her contracted power amount. Actually, in some cases, an increased amount of power would be required at certain time points in excess of the contracted power amount. If this is the case, the customer is required to manage to get extra power compensating for such under power amount. This is achievable by requesting the customer""s contracted power dealer to increase the power feed amount or, alternatively, by newly purchasing such required power from another power dealer. Note that in this case, the customer shall be accused of a breach of contract and then required to pay an additional charge as a penalty.
Prior art power amount control methodology is such that although appropriate control prevents the customer""s consumed power amount from exceeding the customer""s initially contracted power amount, such control is usually automatically carried out by the demand equipment or else so that the power consumption control per se is substantially entrusted to such demand equipment; thus, it will hardly occur that the customer performs this control task by himself or herself.
Additionally, since the customer per se will be aware of the exact amount of power being presently consumed merely by viewing an externally installed power meter such as an outdoor watt-meter, it is impossible or at least greatly difficult for the customer to readily know whether his or her consumed power amount actually exceeds the contracted power amount. Due to this inconvenience, there are problems as to waste power consumption and extra power purchasing activities.
Another problem is that in cases where the customer""s power consumption amount is below his or her contracted power amount, the customer must pay an increased power charge, more than that for the actually used power amount in view of the fact that the customer has contracted for purchasing power from the power dealer. In addition, the power dealer also encounters difficulty in long-term storage of power once generated and thus is required to prepare necessary workers and fuel to provide the capability of generating at least the contracted amount of electric power irrespective of whether that power is actually consumed; accordingly, if the amount of actually consumed power is much less than the contracted power amount, part of preparation costs is wasted, resulting in a problem that both the customer and the power dealer experience cost/price disadvantages.
The present invention has been made to avoid the problems faced with the prior art, and a primary object of this invention is to provide an improved electric power amount control method and apparatus capable of facilitating power amount control while enabling more than one customer to readily obtain information as to a power amount difference between his or her contracted power amount and the amount of actually consumed power.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a power amount control method and apparatus for successfully controlling the electric power amount while precluding that the power consumption amount of a customer is impermissibly less than his or her initially contracted power amount.
A power amount control method in accordance with the invention has the steps of: inputting and storing a customer""s contracted power amount and an actually consumed power amount by the customer; displaying via a network information as to a power amount difference between the contracted power amount and the consumed power amount; and, executing either price setup of the contracted power amount or contract breach processing in accordance with said power amount difference according to the information.
With the power amount control method incorporating the principles of the invention, it is possible for more than one customer to promptly obtain, whenever the need arises, the information as to a power amount difference between his or her initially contracted power amount and the actually consumed power amount, thus enabling the customer to confirm whether electric power is being used in an appropriate way as expected by the contrast. Further, since through execution of either price setup of the contrasted power amount or contract breach processing in accordance with such power amount difference the individual customer attempts based on the information concerning the power amount difference thus obtained to perform power amount control so that his or her consumed power amount becomes at an adequate level, it is possible to well control the power consumption amount so that it stays at a suitable value.
In addition, a power amount control apparatus in accordance with the invention comprises of: means for inputting a contracted power amount and a consumed power amount; means for storing therein the contracted power amount and the consumed power amount as input by said input means; means for visually displaying via a network information as to a power amount difference between the contracted power amount and the consumed power amount; and, means for performing either price setup of the contracted power amount or contract breach processing in accordance with said power amount difference according to the information.
With the power amount control apparatus of the invention, it becomes possible for more than one customer to promptly obtain, whenever the need arises, the information as to a power amount difference between his or her initially contracted power amount and the actually consumed power amount, thus enabling the customer to confirm whether electric power is being used in an appropriate way as expected by the contrast. Further, since through execution of either price setup of the contrasted power amount or contract breach processing in accordance with such power amount difference the individual customer attempts based on the information concerning the power amount difference thus obtained to perform power amount control so that his or her consumed power is at an adequate level, it is possible to well control the power consumption amount so that it stays at a suitable value.